This year’s session of the Washington State Legislature is not yet a month old, but the 19th District’s three legislators have already introduced or thrown their support behind more than 100 bills — some of which stand a much better chance of becoming law than others.
State Sen. Jeff Wilson (R-Longview) has been far more active thus far than state Reps. Jim Walsh (R-Aberdeen) and Joel McEntire (R-Cathlamet), introducing 18 bills of his own while cosponsoring more than 50. Wilson’s catalog of legislation includes Senate Bill 5247, which would transfer ownership of the since-closed Naselle Youth Camp property to the Chinook Indian Nation if passed and signed into law.
That bill, introduced by Wilson on Jan. 14, has since been cosponsored by state Sen. Mike Chapman (D-Port Angeles) of the neighboring 24th Legislative District. Chapman is a freshman senator representing the Olympic Peninsula who previously served four terms in the state House.
Securing support from Democratic senators like Chapman is a must for the bill to have any chance of becoming law; the Democrats maintain a 30-19 edge in the state Senate and hold a 59-39 majority in the lower chamber.
The bill had yet to be scheduled for a hearing and ensuing in the senate’s State Government, Tribal Affairs and Elections Committee as of late last week. Wilson coincidentally serves as the top-ranking Republican on the committee, and the bill must win the support from a majority of the nine members on that committee to move to the floor and potentially receive a vote from the full senate.
Other takeaways
The 18 bills introduced by Wilson are more than the 11 bills that have been sponsored by Walsh and McEntire combined. Of Wilson’s bills, 12 have been cosponsored by at least one Democratic senator, four have been cosponsored by only Republicans, and two have not been cosponsored by any other senator at all as of Jan. 24.
Wilson’s bills that have won bipartisan support range from adopting “The Evergreen State” as Washington’s official nickname (SB 5000) to creating a grant program for counties to purchase and install security cameras around ballot drop boxes (SB 5010). Another, SB 5249, would allow cities and counties to permit the use of “kit homes” — prefabricated homes that come in sections and are delivered to a property to be assembled — in any zoning district that allows single-family or other residential uses.
One of the second-term senator’s bills that have only been cosponsored by fellow Republicans includes SB 5047, dealing with signature-gathering in the state’s initiative process. The bill would prohibit anyone from publicly protesting, within 25 feet, another person who is collecting signatures or attempting to sign an initiative or referendum petition. Doing so would be punishable by a gross misdemeanor, which carries a maximum of 364 days in jail and/or a fine of up to $5,000.
None of the seven bills introduced by Walsh in the lower chamber have been cosponsored by a legislator of the opposing party, while three of McEntire’s four bills have. Walsh’s HB 1065, which would allow for family burial grounds on private property, did pass the state House in 2024 but was not passed in the senate.
One of McEntire’s bills that has won bipartisan support is HB 1309, which is focused on addressing the threat of burrowing shrimp on shellfish farming. Setting aside $2 million for each two-year budget cycle, the bill would create an ongoing research program within the Washington State Department of Agriculture that funds research “into new and innovative control methods for burrowing shrimp infestations.” Companion legislation introduced in the senate has also been cosponsored by Wilson.
Wilson has also lent his support to more of his colleagues’ legislation in the senate than Walsh or McEntire have in the house. The senator has cosponsored 54 bills, 42 of which have earned bipartisan support compared to 12 that have only been backed by Republicans thus far.
Walsh has cosponsored 12 bills in the house, five of which have also been supported by at least one Democrat. Among the nine bills cosponsored by McEntire, all but one have been bipartisan — including HB 1134, which would establish a voluntary green schools program “to create new and expand opportunities for student-involved resource conservation practices in public schools” and be funded by revenue generated from the state’s Climate Commitment Act.
